King of Kensington
Senior Member
Yes, we hear that "everybody was from the British Isles" until 1945 (isn't that one of Toronto's urban myths?) and certainly Toronto was not as multicultural as New York and Chicago in the early 20th century. Still the city was impacted by continental European immigration. Note that there more people with continental European roots in Toronto then there were in the western gateway city of Winnipeg, although they represented a smaller percentage of the population.
The Jewish population increased fifteenfold between 1901 and 1931 (from 3,000 to 45,000, or 7.2% of the population). Italians were the second largest group, representing 3% of the population. Other Europeans, such as Poles and Ukrainians arrived as well, and the city's first Chinatown emerged in this period.
By the 1920s, most of the city's "ethnic" groups lived south of Bloor St. between University Ave. and Dovercourt Rd. Certainly this west-central area was a multicultural island in what was not the diverse city we know today. Most visible was the garment district along Spadina and Kensington Market (then known as the "Jewish Market"); Little Italy on College Street was also established around this time.
Chinatown was located in "the Ward" about where City Hall is today (and the community was displaced to build City Hall in the 1960s, and relocated northwest to today's Chinatown). The Chinese community replaced the Jews and Italians that moved westward around WWI.
Census data is available at the ward level in 1931:
https://ia600303.us.archive.org/3/items/1931981931B401934engfra/1931981931B401934engfra.pdf
Here's a map of the wards:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe..._map_1964.PNG/300px-Toronto_ward_map_1964.PNG
Ward 4 (University to Bathurst) was more than 30% Jewish and Ward 5 (Bathurst to Dovercourt) was 18%, altogether this area contained 82% of the city's Jewish population. In addition to being the heart of the Jewish community (as it contained Spadina/Kensington), ward 4 was also home to the majority of the city's Finns, Czechs and Slovaks, Hungarians and Blacks. Ward 5 was home to Little Italy and had the largest Italian population in the city, but there also some Italian concentrations on the city's northwest fringe as well. A majority of Poles and Ukrainians lived in wards 4 and 5, were centered around Queen St. on both sides of Bathurst.
The Chinese population, as noted, was located near City Hall; 80% lived in ward 3.
The city's Greek population, meanwhile, was located further east in ward 2, east of Jarvis St. This perhaps explains why the Greek population later moved in an eastward direction.
See also my blog post containing some maps of various ethnic communities:
http://southofbloorstreet.blogspot.ca/2015/09/torontos-ethnic-communites-before-wwii.html
@wild goose chase
The Jewish population increased fifteenfold between 1901 and 1931 (from 3,000 to 45,000, or 7.2% of the population). Italians were the second largest group, representing 3% of the population. Other Europeans, such as Poles and Ukrainians arrived as well, and the city's first Chinatown emerged in this period.
By the 1920s, most of the city's "ethnic" groups lived south of Bloor St. between University Ave. and Dovercourt Rd. Certainly this west-central area was a multicultural island in what was not the diverse city we know today. Most visible was the garment district along Spadina and Kensington Market (then known as the "Jewish Market"); Little Italy on College Street was also established around this time.
Chinatown was located in "the Ward" about where City Hall is today (and the community was displaced to build City Hall in the 1960s, and relocated northwest to today's Chinatown). The Chinese community replaced the Jews and Italians that moved westward around WWI.
Census data is available at the ward level in 1931:
https://ia600303.us.archive.org/3/items/1931981931B401934engfra/1931981931B401934engfra.pdf
Here's a map of the wards:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe..._map_1964.PNG/300px-Toronto_ward_map_1964.PNG
Ward 4 (University to Bathurst) was more than 30% Jewish and Ward 5 (Bathurst to Dovercourt) was 18%, altogether this area contained 82% of the city's Jewish population. In addition to being the heart of the Jewish community (as it contained Spadina/Kensington), ward 4 was also home to the majority of the city's Finns, Czechs and Slovaks, Hungarians and Blacks. Ward 5 was home to Little Italy and had the largest Italian population in the city, but there also some Italian concentrations on the city's northwest fringe as well. A majority of Poles and Ukrainians lived in wards 4 and 5, were centered around Queen St. on both sides of Bathurst.
The Chinese population, as noted, was located near City Hall; 80% lived in ward 3.
The city's Greek population, meanwhile, was located further east in ward 2, east of Jarvis St. This perhaps explains why the Greek population later moved in an eastward direction.
See also my blog post containing some maps of various ethnic communities:
http://southofbloorstreet.blogspot.ca/2015/09/torontos-ethnic-communites-before-wwii.html
@wild goose chase